The Fairy Pitta (Pitta nympha) is a migratory
bird that inhabits secondary lowland forests. The
species breeds in South Korea, southern Japan,
southeastern China, and Taiwan, and winters in
the islands of Borneo (BirdLife International 2001).
The breeding grounds of the Fairy Pitta have been
highly impacted by habitat deterioration, resulting
from the clearance, fragmentation, and degradation
of subtropical and tropical forests in recent
years. The species is listed as vulnerable by the
IUCN, while its current population size is estimated
to be fewer than a few thousand individuals
(BirdLife International 2001). Thus, it is critical to
efficiently monitor the breeding ground and population
size of the Fairy Pitta for conservation and
management purposes (Lambert and Woodcock
1996, BirdLife International 2000 2001).
Using playbacks to elicit vocal responses is
an effective technique in determining the presence
of elusive birds (Johnson et al. 1981, Marion et al.
1981). For example, it has been used in surveys
of Gurney
,
s Pittas (P. gurneyi) (Gretton et al.
1993) and Rainbow Pittas (P. iris) (Zimmermann
and Noske 2003). Particularly, it is a valuable tool
for censusing rare species (Wunderle 1994).
However, the effectiveness of playbacks as a censusing
technique has not been investigated for pittas.
To facilitate the monitoring of the breeding
distribution and population size of the endangered
Fairy Pitta in Taiwan, we investigated the effectiveness
of using playbacks in determining the presence
of the Fairy Pitta. We hypothesized that
playbacks increased the detectability of Fairy
Pittas at survey/census points. In addition, we